The Lone Ranger flopped so hard last weekend that it had pundits wondering whether Johnny Depp‘s star was, at long last, on the decline. But despite the $150 million it stands to lose on that film, the folks at Disney haven’t lost faith in him. In fact, they’re eager to take their relationship with him to the next level.

Depp’s production company Infinitum Nihil has closed a first-look deal with the Mouse House, after years set up at Warner Bros. In addition, Depp’s just about set to reprise his role as the Mad Hatter for the Alice in Wonderland sequel, currently titled Into the Looking Glass. More details after the jump.

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Lewis Carroll wrote more than one adventure in Wonderland, so the notion of a sequel to Alice in Wonderland is hardly new. But the idea of a film carrying on the approach of Tim Burton’s superficial, action-oriented film from 2010 does sound a bit ridiculous. Nevertheless, Burton’s film made over a billion dollars, propelled in part by a post-Avatar interest in 3D. So a sequel was probably inevitable.

At least it won’t be called Alice in Wonderland 2; right now the working title is Into the Looking Glass. (Presumably to be presented as a subtitle, so we’ll likely be calling the film Alice in Wonderland: Into the Looking Glass.)

Now the film has a likely director in James Bobin. The veteran of Da Ali G Show and Flight of the Conchords directed The Muppets for Disney, and is finishing up The Muppets…Again! for the company. Seems like a big thumbs-up from Disney, which has decided that Bobin is a director who can create what the Mouse House wants. Read More »